Another major issue for the NLD will be how to deal with the country’s fractious ethnic minorities, who for decades have been conducting on-again, off-again insurgencies seeking greater autonomy. In opposition, the NLD was in a loose alliance with such groups, but in power, it will have to make hard choices about how to balance national, military and minority interests.
Religious and racial tensions involving the country’s ethnic Rohingya minority and other Muslims — the source of deadly clashes that have left as many as 140,000 people internally displaced — are another challenge, complicated by the nationalist politicking of influential radical Buddhist monks. The issue has ramifications for Burma’s international relations as well, as the current government has been accused of inaction and even complicity in what some call genocide of the Rohingya.
The Union Election Board has been excruciatingly slow in announcing official results, though the victory has generally been a foregone conclusion, with both the NLD earlier claiming victory and the ruling party informally conceding.
The delay in announcing the NLD’s majority toned down exuberance among party supporters Friday, with the streets outside the NLD headquarters in Yangon looking as they do on normal working days. Supporters celebrated there right after the election on Sunday and Monday nights, cheering and dancing as noisy campaign songs blared over loudspeakers.
Party executives have been sorting out transition plans, making arrangements to meet soon with President Thein Sein, House Speaker Shwe Mann, and the real power behind the government, army commander Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.
Thein Sein served in the previous military regime, and was named president after the USDP won a 2010 election that was boycotted by the NLD, which considered it unfair. Thein Sein’s government met some of the NLD’s demands for changes in the election laws, and the opposition party agreed to run in by-elections in 2012, taking 43 of the 44 seats it contested.
